The Vision of the Scroll

2 He said to me: “O mortal,^[a] stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.”^{(A) 2} And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.^{(B) 3} He said to me, “Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation^[b] of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day.^{(C) 4} The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’^{(D) 5} Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.^{(E) 6} And you, O mortal, do not be afraid of them, and do not be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words, and do not be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.^{(F) 7} You shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.^(G)

⁸ “But you, mortal, hear what I say to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”^{(H) 9} I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it.^{(I) 10} He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back, and written on it were words of lamentation and mourning and woe.

⁸ Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles^[a] of the world, and not according to Christ.^{(A) 9} For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰ and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.^{(B) 11} In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision,^[b] by the removal of the body^[c] of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;^{(C) 12} when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.^{(D) 13} And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God^[d] made you^[e] alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses,^{(E) 14} erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed^[f] the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.^(F)

¹⁶ Therefore, do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food or^[g] drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths.^{(G) 17} These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the body belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, initiatory visions,^[h] puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,^{[i] 19} and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons, grows with a growth that is from God.^(H)

3 He said to me, “O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.”^{(A) 2} So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. ³ He said to me, “Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” Then I ate it, and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.^(B)

⁴ He said to me, “Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak my very words to them. ⁵ For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language but to the house of Israel, ⁶ not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.^{(C) 7} But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me, because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.^{(D) 8} See, I have made your face hard against their faces and your forehead hard against their foreheads. ⁹ Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.”^{(E) 10} He said to me, “Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears; ¹¹ then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ whether they hear or refuse to hear.”^(F)

Ezekiel at the River Chebar

¹² Then the spirit lifted me up, and as the glory of the Lord rose^[a] from its place, I heard behind me the sound of loud rumbling;^{(G) 13} it was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against one another and the sound of the wheels beside them that sounded like a loud rumbling. ¹⁴ The spirit lifted me up and bore me away; I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the Lord being strong upon me.^(H)

Jesus the True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes^[a] to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed^[b] by the word that I have spoken to you.^{(A) 4} Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.^{(B) 5} I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.^{(C) 8} My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become^[c] my disciples.^{(D) 9} As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.^{(E) 11} I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.^(F)

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.^{(G) 13} No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.^{(H) 14} You are my friends if you do what I command you.^{(I) 15} I do not call you servants^[d] any longer, because the servant^[e] does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.^{(J) 17} I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

The World’s Hatred

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.^{(K) 19} If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.^{(L) 21} But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.^{(M) 22} If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.^{(N) 23} Whoever hates me hates my Father also.^{(O) 24} If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.^{(P) 25} It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’^(Q)

²⁶ “When the Advocate^[f] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.^{(R) 27} You also are to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.^(S)